Ye Zhen forced himself to stay calm, knowing well he was on the verge of a mental breakdown. It was at a time like this that he should remain calm. He raised a hand, spitting out blood, as hundreds of talismans flew before him.
Karmic fire with dark flames burned through the talismans.
Ye Zhen pushed the talismans forward before he turned around and fled.
Lu Zhou flew up and pursued Ye Zhen. When he saw the talismans burning with reddish-black flames flying toward him, he raised his hand that was shining with blue light and launched Abandon Wisdom.
Boom!
Just like that, Lu Zhou destroyed the hundreds of talismans. He continued giving chase with his grand technique. He flew above Ye Zhen’s head and said, “I’d like to see where you can run to now!”
Since Ye Zhen did not retract his avatar, he was too big of a target. He maintained the leaf-sprouting process; it was impossible for him to suppress it like what he did when he was at the Eight-leaf stage.
Ye Zhen continued to speed toward one of the peaks, leaving the cloud platform.
‘It’s time to take a gamble,’ Lu Zhou thought to himself as he pushed a hand forward.
Binding Cage Card!
Lu Zhou flew after the golden frame.
Meanwhile, Sikong Beichen frowned deeply when he saw this, perplexed. “What technique is this?”
“I’m surprised to learn that there are things that even you don’t understand, Old Fiend Sikong,” Nie Qingyung said. He had grown rather tired of Sikong Beichen bragging all this time.
“Oh, put a sock in it,” Sikong Beichen said before taking flight.
Yu Zhenghai, Yu Shangrong, and the others followed suit.
Meanwhile, several thousand disciples from the Sky Martial Court and the Flying Star House flew toward another peak. They formed groups in the air as they left the cloud platform.
Many disciples who could not fly could only sit limply on the floor as they looked at the shocking scenes. It was likely they would not be able to witness such shocking scenes for the rest of their lives after this.
At this moment, Ye Zhen was now above a ring-shaped platform at the third peak. He quickly descended in the center. He looked up in surprise at the cage that was flying toward him. ‘What’s that?’
The cage grew larger. It formed a golden lattice network that seemed like a net as it descended on Ye Zhen.
Boom!
The cage disappeared.
Lu Zhou shook his head. ‘My luck isn’t good.’
Ye Zhen did not know what was going through Lu Zhou’s mind at the moment. After he landed, he slammed his palms on the platform.
The ring-shaped platform shone immediately; purple radiant circles rose into the air.
Ye Zhen taunted, “Do you dare to come here? I’m going to sprout my leaf in this Formation now, and there’s nothing you can do about it!”
“Why won’t I dare?” Lu Zhou flew to the ring-shaped platform.
Meanwhile, the other cultivators watched from the sky. There were nearly 10,000 cultivators waiting for the outcome of this battle. It was as though they had forgotten about their enemies.
“We’re too late.” Nie Qingyun sighed helplessly. “As expected, Ye Zhen knows the 12 peaks like the back of his hand! Old Fiend Sikong, this friend of yours is going to run into some bad luck.”
“What do you mean?”
“This is a Witch God Blood Formation. Every quarter of an hour, this Formation will strip you of 100 years of life. Your friend is old while Ye Zhen has five lives…” Nie Qingyun said.
“Why aren’t you working to deactivate the Formation then?”
“So long as there’s life in the Formation, it’ll keep running,” Nie Qingyun said with a sigh.
The faint purple light soon shrouded the Formation like a barrier that separated it from the rest of the world.
Ye Zhen smiled as he wiped the blood away from the edge of his lips. He looked at the calm Lu Zhou before he infused his blood essence into the Formation veins.
The Daoist veins in Ye Zhen’s surroundings began to devour the vitality in the Formation.
Lu Zhou stepped forward and raised his hand to attack.
A palm seal burning with golden karmic fire sailed toward Ye Zhen again.
Ye Zhen planted his feet on the ground steadily. His Confucian robes fluttered in the wind as the Daoist veins flowed like water.
Red karmic fire collided with the golden flames and canceled each other out.
The Formation continued to devour vitality in the Formation.
“I have a long life ahead of me. What about you?” Ye Zhen asked mockingly.
Lu Zhou stroked his beard calmly as he looked at Ye Zhen.
Remaining life: 219,445 days.
-10 days.
-20 days.
“My life is longer than yours,” Lu Zhou finally said, still stroking his beard.
“In that case, let’s see who’ll last to the very end. One of us will die today.”
Lu Zhou’s life continued to decrease. The Nine Infants was, indeed, a pain to deal with. There was no doubt Ye Zhen was the most difficult opponent he had encountered after he transmigrated.
Lu Zhou shattered a Reversal Card.
+600!
The vitality in the surroundings surged into the Formation toward Lu Zhou and entered his body.
“What? You can replenish your life?!” Ye Zhen’s eyes widened as he instinctively took a step back.
Lu Zhou saw that the value of the Reversal Card had been raised to 600 days and nodded in satisfaction. He repeated Ye Zhen’s words from earlier, “You’re not tactful at all.”
With the new supply of life, Lu Zhou’s heart was as calm as a still lake as his life continued to dwindle.
Ye Zhen’s face was ashen. One of the heads on his avatar was already drooping down due to the Formation’s effect.
“Who are you?!” Ye Zhen’s voice spread out of the Formation and reached the ears of the thousands of cultivators in the sky.
At this point, Lu Zhou sped forward with Unnamed in his hand. His Nine-leaf golden flames avatar rose as he stared at Ye Zhen’s avatar with five heads. ‘These are all merit points!’
The Formation would last as long as there was life in it.
Ye Zhen’s heart sank. He felt as though he had dropped a rock on his foot.
The Nine Infants avatar released red energy in an attempt to fight back.
The red lotus karmic fire and the golden karmic fire collided again.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Lu Zhou shot upward and switched targets. He advanced toward Ye Zhen’s avatar.
Ye Zhen was shocked. He planted his feet on the ground. His palms burned with karmic fire as he tried to parry the attack.
Lu Zhou aimed at the thick and swaying necks of the Nine Infants and brought Unnamed down. Although the red lotus karmic fire and palm seals stood in his way, he did not stop and followed through with his movement.
The red lotus karmic fire and palm seals were cleaved into two as Unnamed slashed across a thick neck.
“No!” An excruciating pain besieged Ye Zhen immediately. He spat out a mouthful of blood.
“Ding! Killed a target. Reward: 4,500 merit points.”
The 10,000 cultivators were stunned. Was the battle not too one-sided?
Nie Qing Yun, the Sect Master of the Cloud Mountain, felt his eyelids twitch as he watched the battle in the Formation. He had just been bragging about the Witch God Blood Formation, but he was instantly proven wrong.
Sikong Beichen laughed. “I feel embarrassed on your behalf”
In the distance, a Flying Star House cultivator looked down and said, “Get ready to make a move.”
Sikong Beichen heard these words and said in a low voice, “You dare?”
This was perhaps Sikong Beichen’s greatest importance for being here. With his presence, the other cultivators did not dare to jump in recklessly.
“Sikong Beichen, is the Ninth Temple going to meddle in the Flying Star House’s affairs now?” one of the Flying Star House disciples asked.
“Do you have a death wish?!” Sikong Beichen asked in return.
“You!” the cultivator said resentfully, “The cultivators from the palace are on their way here as well! Let’s see how long you’ll be able to remain arrogant!”
As the cultivator spoke, Sikong Beichen formed an energy sword with two fingers.
As soon as the energy sword appeared, Nie Qingyun raised his hand. The air seemed to freeze in an instant. “Old Fiend Sikong, this is my turf… All I ask is for you to not go on a killing spree here!”
“Nie Qingyun, I did you a favor just moments ago. Is this how you repay my kindness?” Sikong Beichen asked.
“I’ll repay your kindness someday, but not today!” Nie Qingyun replied.
“Very well. If any one of you dares to make a move, don’t blame me for going on a killing spree!” Sikong Beichen said.
When there were many factions involved, there would always be a need to balance out their roles. Many considerations would have to be taken into account.
Nie Qingyun’s expression was grim. He sighed inwardly, wondering what was the right thing to do.
Meanwhile, after Lu Zhou decapitated one of the Nine Infants’ heads with Unnamed, the head fell and vanished, returning to nature.
Ye Zhen retreated swiftly.
Lu Zhou leaped as Unnamed morphed into a bow. He straightened his back and his expression grew solemn as he nocked an energy arrow.
“A desolate-grade bow!” The others were shocked again.
Bam!
The thick energy arrow glowed blue as it shot out. One-third of Lu Zhou’s extraordinary power was contained in it. Moreover, it was fired by a desolate-grade weapon!
Ye Zhen fled desperately.
In just a blink of an eye, the energy arrow landed true, hitting another head.
“Ding! Killed a target. Reward: 4,500 merit points.”
“Master, after him! He’s left with three heads! See? I told you that my master will smash his heads!” Little Yuan’er cried out excitedly, cheering and leaping.
Lu Zhou did not use his remaining extraordinary power. Instead, he saved his energy. He put Unnamed away as he tossed a Binding Cage Card out again.
A square cage appeared again and flew toward Ye Zhen.
Lu Zhou continued in his pursuit.
“…”
The atmosphere above the Witch God Blood Formation was heavy and suffocating. Even breathing felt laborious.
“Let’s keep up,” Sikong Beichen said calmly as he followed the two opponents.
